Abstract:

There is a growing interest in applying ultra-high strength concrete in conjunction with corrosive resistant reinforcement fabrics in order to produce lower-cost, durable thin concrete structures, also known as textile reinforced concrete, having more innovative shapes, such as curves and domes which aren’t typical for the construction industry.

The objective of this Master’s thesis was to evaluate the use of ultra-high strength cementitious matrix in conjunction with a modern fabric reinforcement in order to reveal limitations in the use of ultra-high strength cementitious matrixes and provide information on areas in need of further research considering the bond performance between the matrix and the fabric.

The study was initiated with a literature review on the current state of ultra-high strength concrete as well as a literature review on fabric reinforced structures. The second part of the study revolves around an experimental program investigating the use of a ultra-high strength cementitious matrix in conjunction with fabric reinforcement, which revealed that when studying the bond performance between the cementitious matrix and the fabric reinforcement, the benefits of higher strength is lost when using a ultra-high strength cementitious matrix due to the poor matrix penetration caused by higher viscosity, compared to weaker more fluid matrixes.